I thought it was very interesting when Julie Braun-Martin mentioned that she had “just received a message” from a CST union rep — during the board meeting — saying they would not be happy if the IMA reclassification wasn’t approved.
Linda Mayo has expressed strong concerns in the past about text, email and social media communications DURING board meetings, especially if they could influence the board.
If the CST rep had concerns, he or she should have come to the meeting and spoken about them publicly instead of secretly contacting Braun-Martin and asking her to speak on behalf of the union to the board. Then, the board could have asked the union rep about his or her concerns publicly.
Hopefully, the union rep will come to the next meeting instead of again asking Braun-Martin to speak on his or her behalf.

Re: splitting the district in two…
Well clearly, keeping the district united has not worked and is not working. Perhaps it is time to dissolve, divide and take action as our kids education is at stake. While I am not sure that a Walnut Creek Unified is the answer, it is a brave step in a direction taken by a terribly discontented community. I would not be surprised to hear that other communities are far behind.

Linda Mayo’s vote against a Board Study session to hear from the proponents of Northgate succession from MDUSD was telling — Mayo said she didn’t believe the Board was following “process” in that the Board should allow the group to meet with the Supt and then “staff” make a recommendation to the Board. Well, Linda, that’s what happened with Clayton Valley High — didn’t work very well did it since the staff buried the concerns with the Supt and district administration. I support the study session, but have no opinion yet on any division of the district.

As a reminder, CVCHS administrator Pat Middendorf said that when the Clayton Valley group first approached former Supt. Steven Lawrence about their idea to create a charter, his first response was: “But that will make me look bad.”
It will be interesting to see how the current superintendent and board respond.

Certainly she volunteered the information about having just been contacted by a union rep right before the board vote. I don’t believe anyone asked her whether she had any idea what the union would think.

Citizen Mike clearly identified the Board’s duty: what is in the best interests of the largest number of MDUSD students. I would doubt that Dr. Nellie will hang around MDUSD for long if the district loses 1/3 of its students.

Why has McMorris taken down Northgate’s website ?? Is this the open book that taxpayers should have when considering the future of Northgate ?? maybe he is hiding something from the auditors — new firm Nigro & Nigro. I understand next week they are auditing about 20 schools. so if you have a concern, you might want to drop them a line: http://www.nncpas.com

Good question. McMorris likes to ignore the rules. Nigro & Nigro barely meets the requirement to change auditors every 6 years. The district used Nigro, Nigro & White, then MDUSD was turned over to White when she split off from the parent company, and now we’re going back to Nigro & Nigro.

Or, Schoenke should have told the board not to use that information in its deliberations since it was a secret communication to a staff member during the meeting meant to influence the vote.
He also should have told Braun-Martin not to share secret communications during board meetings. He had no trouble chastising the whistle-blowing teacher a few weeks ago when he thought she was sharing information inappropriately. And she wasn’t even speaking on anything the board was voting on. Perhaps teachers working in violent environments should also ask for reclassifications of their jobs.

it was an interesting meeting — Cheryl Hansen gets unprecedented kudos and plaque for being Board president 4 months later — note: she’s running for re-election in November. and citizen Mike no longer calling himself a “citizen” as he is soon to be “candidate” Mike Langley, “independent” of his teacher union roots, to take over from Lynne Dennler’s naive attempt to “represent the teachers’ interests ” on the Board. And after the architects spilling the beans about the phoney attempt to build a high school on a 10 acre parcel — under “marching orders” from Tim Cody and Steven Lawrence — all to allow Lawrence to cut most of the buses in Bay Point. it’s time for the ACLU to implement voting districts in MDUSD.

That’s true that the Bay Point part of the meeting was pretty interesting. I was especially amused when the consultant said the meetings were sparsely attended. What he failed to point out was the fact that Steven Lawrence and Tim Cody didn’t publicly notice the meetings to me or on the district’s website. I didn’t find out about one of the meetings until after it was over. Even Cheryl Hansen said she was unaware of some of the meetings.

The tragedy is that is has taken over a year since Steven Lawrence’s firing for parts of the truth to rise to the surface, and the irony is about the same time the Northgate succession effort has begun, backed by who else ? You have it: STEVEN LAWRENCE. as far as I know, he has been unsuccessful in getting a new education job including several failed attempts at a new Supt job. why in the world would the Northgate group even consider hiring him ? Maybe that he is controllable ? or McMorris owes him for the $40,000 ? soon we will find out McMorris’ fate under Dr. Nellie.

Why was the Board meeting video “cut short” on Wednesday before adjourning the main session to closed session so we can’t see what board members want on the future agenda and there is no third part showing the closed session “report out” ?????

Just how much have we paid in 8 years for Schreder and Nacht & Lewis “studies” just to be told what we really need is another ” broader, more up-to-date study?”
Alves property sitting in the middle of “unbuilt” housing area? Hardly! They need to rely on something more up-to-date than 3yr old Schreder graphics and Google maps.

Great point g. perhaps Theresa can get the billing records for Nacht and also Schreder. Maybe they are even detailed to describe some of those meetings with Steven Lawrence and Tim Cody. When taxpayers see how much they have spent on worthless studies to advance politicians futures and then to realize these costly studies are being paid for at 3 or 4 times the cost due to interest and 40 year compounding, taxpayers ought to be really outraged at Board members like Linda M ago who put blind faith into staff without asking a single public question. Another example is the Technology Committee that presented the worthless report the other night. I would love to see the calculation of salaries and time spent drafting a worthless document. Dan Reynolds tore it to shreds in less than his allotted 3 minutes !! Incomplete, missing attachments, parts “to be determined”, and even agencies that no longer exist. I am tired of the Board not chastising the staff for poor workmanship. and why would Dr. Nellie sign off to put this on the Board agenda — it literally was a piece of manure.

the Board was sick and tired of these piecemeal “reclassifications”. It’s obvious that it is a way to promote without having to weather the interview process. instead of employees working within their job descriptions, they have learned, with the help of Julie B-M, to game the system by doing things outside their job description, and usually described in the next job up the promotion ladder. The Board got close to hitting the nail on the head — make them work their job description. If management was to increase the position, get approval for a new position, and open it up for all-comers. MDUSD is not a closed shop, with promotions only open to current employees — so is this how J Luke and the unions “work around” ?????

It was also very telling when the consultant admitted that he was “directed” to present three grade configuration options, which the public hated. The public expected to be able to give input into the CREATION of options, not be given a choice of three that had been secretly created without their input.

I think the architect also said he was told by Lawrence what outcome he wanted before the project was started. It’s really worth an investigation into a total waste and deceptive practice is it never happens again.

My colleagues are ROTFLOL over an email earlier today to all management. it was a call for compliance with Board policy not to use MDUSD email for non-MDUSD business and named the unions, and specifically also identified DMA and ACSA. I was mildly humored to hear of this since I have been pointing out that DMA is a main violator of this Board policy and Linda Hutcherson three years ago was told not to use MDUSD mail for DMA business. Slightly more amusing is that two of the main violators of this are Asst. Supt’s. Julie B-M and Rose Lock !!!! But the one that took the cake was DMA President Cindy Matteoni who hit “reply all” on the district email to advise them of a DMA email address and ask, using MDUSD email, for their private emails ! Cindy did what she was just told not to do !!!! if a student did that to her, she would suspend them !! No one has ever said Cindy was the sharpest knife in the drawer. While I suspect the unions were the main targets of this email, they probably had defended themselves by pointing fingers at DMA and ACSA. Or maybe it was the advertising by Rose Lock to buy your buddy a Margarita at the DMA bash using the district email ?? Meanwhile hypocrisy in MDUSD abounds even in the highest levels of management.

And why is a union rep allowed to speak/complain/drone on for 7-8 minutes during public comment – week after week? I don’t care how hard she works for ‘her’ people. Take it to the closed session bargaining agenda. You got your raises/free bonuses on the heads of those whose hours/jobs were cut . Put a sock in it already.

Why is the ‘particular person’ and the ‘particular school’ such a secret throughout the entire IMA reclassification discussion? It’s for a salary raise. It’s only for one particular school. Who, what, where?

Union reps can also speak about specific agenda items. So, the CST union rep could have addressed concerns about the IMA reclassification on that agenda item.
g: Union reps speak during public about concerns they want the public to know about.

Yes, that’s my point. Organizations are asked to make “brief” comments. Parents, neighbors, individual teachers, etc. (when complaining) get buzzed at or very close to 3 minutes. Goose/Gander fairness is all I’m asking for. Annie has legitimate gripes to make on behalf of the workers — especially special ed assistants, and needs to do more about them than just read them to the board.

Speaking of compliance, Sally Smith has begun filing Uniform Complaints in MDUSD. So far, it looks like she has targeted YVHS and CPHS for allegedly charging illegal fees for sports, field trips and caps and gowns.

Graduation Caps/Gowns; school supplies; sports: NO COST to students Tom Torlakson tells Supts LAST OCTOBER — Yet Dr. Nellie has ignored him and is violating the law by allowing high schools to require students pay for graduation caps/gowns rentals, allowing elementary schools to issue “supplies lists” implying that parents should purchase these for “their children”, instead of a voluntary donation [not to their student] but to the classroom, and Sports Fees disguised as donations [but if you don’t pay, some are saying you don’t play]. And lets not forget the most egregious of them all — charging $90 for a bowling class, paid as a “donation” to the bowling alley ! Yes, that’s Gary McAdam at Concord High. “Donations” are to non-profits, not money making enterprises like bowling alleys. This Sacramento Bee article highlighted today at fcmat.org says one parent calculated the supplies list at $70-100 for his student for one year. Multiply $100 x 31,000 students, and that will be a $3,100,000 budget hit for refunds THIS year, next year’s budget will have to pay for those fees — sorry DMA, you probably aren’t getting any more raises since you have been violating the law. Read this and weep. http://www.sacbee.com/2014/05/05/6377866/california-to-schools-students.html#mi_rss=Latest%20News

The tip of the iceberg — how large is the financial exposure for “refunds” for the last 365 days of illegal charges, and next years budget for the same expenses ? My earlier post estimates it at $3.1 Million dollars. Since Dr. Millie got the Torlakson directive last October, why hasn’t she, Rose Lock and Bill Morones been on top of this issue like flies on flypaper ? @TH. are you doing a story similar to the one in the Sac Bee ?

Has Dr. Nellie not communicated this to her administrators to ensure strict compliance ? Or is she just ignoring her duty to follow the Constitution and the law ? “In the CDE’s view, EC Section 38119 only authorizes districts to rent caps and gowns from a supplier and provide them free of charge to students. Therefore, a cap and gown fee is not “otherwise allowed by law.” EC Section 49011(e).” Oct 4, 2013 memo to Dr. Nellie and other supts. “The CDE recommends that a district that requires students to wear a cap and gown at the ceremony inform students that: (1) the district will provide caps and gowns for graduating seniors for use during the ceremony, and (2) students also have the option to purchase an appropriate cap and gown from a vendor. No student should be required to self-identify as indigent in order to receive a cap and gown from the district. ”
Dr. Nellie, its time to be accountable for your actions or lack thereof. You have been here more than a year. If your senior managers have dropped the ball, it would be hard to understand why you would keep a single one of them. And your principals — why are they not following the law and your direction ? Be accountable to the public.

I’m not sure why Sally Smith (this appears to be an assumed name) is filing complaints for sports fees. All athletic sports programs that are supported by the boosters have asked for a donataion, they have not had fee. It makes me wonder where she is getting her information or if she is just issuing blanket complaints. Also for field trips, I haven’t seen any request for money. I have seen requests for students to work fundraisers but none of those are mandatory. Theresa, can you tell me where I can go to see complaint.

Sally Smith is her real name. I will ask her for permission to post her complaints or excerpts on my blog. She is getting information off of school websites about fees being charged for sports, field trips and caps and gowns.

This again will only hamper on the lower socioeconomic schools. The middle and higher socioeconomic have PFC/PTA money to pay for those students who don’t want to participate. The lower socioeconomic schools can’t afford it and don’t receive any funding in order to provide it. I feel that it is a student’s right to wear a cap and gown at graducation , yet who will pay for it?

Doctor J,
I was asking about YVHS. I don’t know what Concord is currently doing. When I was on the board, I didn’t look at every school’s website to determine what they were doing. That is not the responsibility of any board member. I also did not receive a complaint that this was ocuring

Dr. Meyer has not yet been here a year. At this time last year, the district was beginning its search for an interim superintendent (and Steven Lawrence was still wrangling with the board over his separation agreement).

That is interesting. I just did a search on YVHS website. There are no sports contributions/fees , cap and gown or field trip fees that I could find for this year on the current website. yvhs.mdusd.org. There was one $2 fee for a indoor soccer tournament that was a fundraiser for leadership but not a sports fee. As a parent, I’m curious where she’s finding this because I don’t see it.

Sherry, please read the CDE Advisory Addendum dated Oct 4, 2013 quoted above: “(1) the district will provide caps and gowns for graduating seniors for use during the ceremony,” The district has known about this for years — its not new law. Yet, the district spending priorities are to give massive raises to DMA as a “me too” and then Julie B-M and Rose Lock were pouting when the Board didn’t follow the alleged “tradition” of giving the Big Four “me too” raises too. Now DMA wants more raises to match the amounts MDEA got for benefits. Who comes first ? Children or administrators ?

Thanks for correcting me. Steven Lawrence was fired 4/25/2013 and Rose Lock was subsequently appointed Interim Superintendent. The suspect list narrows. Although Dr. Nellie’s official first day was in late September 2013, she spent considerable time here prior to that date. The CDE Advisory Addendum was issued October 4, 2013 while she was officially the Supt.

Sherry, you didn’t look very hard. I quickly found this: “CAP AND GOWNS: There are still over 100 Seniors who have not ordered their caps and gowns for graduation. You need to place an order by this Friday or the price will be doubled! You can order several ways:
(1) Call Josten’s at (925) 838-1835 and order over the phone.
(2) Order online at www,jostens.com.
(3) Place your order into the mail on or before Friday, December 13.
Right now orders start at $25, don’t miss out on this great deal! If you have questions, please see Mrs. Lomas, Ms. Malin or Ms. Stobing. Don’t delay, order today!”
Sherry, it would surprise me if Sally Smith filed a complaint without evidence.http://yvhs-mdusd-ca.schoolloop.com/news/view?d=x&id=1385192283671